Friday, April 14, 2006

Overseas Italians Suprise Berlusconi - International Herald Tribune

The ANNOTICO Report

More than 3 weeks ago, on March 21, My Report was titled " Italy Election- Overseas Voters, 3.5 Million To Decide ??"

Well that's exactly what happened.!!!

In a Razor thin Election, the Overseas Italians gave Prodi's coalition 7 of the 12 seats that had been made available to them in the lower house. More importantly, the center-left eked out a wafer-thin majority in the Senate by winning four of the available six seats, for a total of 158 compared with 156 for Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition.

There were some great Surprises, Ironies, and Lessons that surfaced.

Mirko Tremaglia, minister of Italians abroad, a member of the conservative National Alliance, lobbied for the better part of 50 years, moved by patriotism and the unshakable conviction that an Italian heart will always remain tied to the motherland (I agree). Tremaglia also criss crossed

the globe in encouraging stronger ties, and also hopefully strong support for Berlusconi, as perhaps a show of appreciation for having delivered the representation they sought. That apparently didn't happen.

While 42 percent (up from the 33% originally estimated) of the 3.5 million Overseas Italians voted, which is very respectable %, and especially in the first such election, imagine if twice that number had voted, more in line with the 84% turnout in Italy !!!!

Very interesting to me was that prominent columnist Beppe Severgnini, thought that while Italians tolerate or might even enjoy a "colorful" politician to a "dull" one, that the Overseas Italians more sensitive to Discrimination and Defamation, were less inclined to a candidate that
sometimes fostered negative stereotypes.

It may also be that the center-left came out ahead because individual political parties of that coalition merged under a single flag known as the Union, whereas the center-right parties opted to run separately, many consider a serious political miscalculation.

AN OVERSEAS SURPRISE FOR BERLUSCONI

International Herald Tribune

By Elisabetta Povoledo

FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2006

ROME There is probably no one in Italy who fought as long and hard to get Italians living abroad the right to vote - and representation in Parliament - as Mirko Tremaglia, minister of Italians abroad.

Tremaglia, a member of the conservative National Alliance, lobbied for the better part of 50 years, moved by patriotism and the unshakable conviction that an Italian heart will always remain tied to the motherland.

But when expatriate voters cast their ballots for the first time in the recent national election, they did what Tremaglia, and most of Italy, did not expect them to do: They mostly voted for the cen! ter-left. Romano Prodi's coalition took 7 of the 12 seats that had been made available to the global electorate in the lower house.

More importantly, the center-left eked out a wafer-thin majority in the Senate by winning four of the available six seats, for a total of 158 compared with 156 for Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition. In all, 42 percent of the 3.5 million expatriate voters went to the polls.

The initial surprise, however, has given way to deeper reflection on the motivations behind the vote, and on Italian assumptions about their compatriots living abroad.

Eugenia Scarzanella, author of a book about fascism in South America, said that as many fascists emigrated after the war, Italian immigrants were branded as rightist. "This was the illusion, on the part of both the right and the left: that overseas a political museum had been maintained," she said. "But things change, just like they have here."

Immigration has also changed over! the last century. Images of cardboard- suitcase-toting farmers are a thing of the past. If Italian media reports are to be believed, the new immigrants are professionals, denoting a significant "brain drain" in which educated people are packing up and leaving for better paying jobs abroad.

And when they cast their ballots, according to the prominent columnist Beppe Severgnini, the anti-Berlusconi "embarrassment factor" comes into play.

Severgnini said that Berlusconi had paid a price for his sometimes outlandish behavior, making off-color jokes and comparing himself to Napoleon or Jesus Christ. When it comes time to vote for "someone who encourages the worst stereotypes," Severgnini said, the new immigrants, the professionals "will vote no."

It may also be that the center-left came out ahead because individual political parties of that coalition merged under a single flag known as the Union, whereas the center-right parties opted to run separately.
"The center right made a mistake, it was a serious political miscalculation to think that one party could beat a coalition," said Gino Bucchino, a Toronto based doctor elected with the Union. Bucchino also believes his alliance was favored because its candidates were known for their community activities.

"I wasn't linked with the party, I was known for myself," he said.

The tension caused by Berlusconi's demands for a recount of ballots has spilled over into the foreign vote as well. Dario Rivolta, who is responsible for the foreign vote in Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, said he had evidence of widespread fraud in the extra-territorial seats.

Rivolta asserted that one Union candidate, whom he did not name, had paid the equivalent of $10 to buy blank ballots from immigrants and spoke of cases of expatriates seeking more than one ballot. But a Foreign Ministry spokesman said that measures had been in place to prevent expatriates from voting more than once! .

For the last six years, Gianluca Colonna has worked for a bank in Frankfurt. He said his first vote from abroad had been relatively easy. He received his ballot on time, got political pamphlets from three opposing political parties a fourth, from the Northern League arrived in the mail after the elections) and boned up on the issues via the Internet and from the press.

"It was easy to be informed and go into the elections with some idea," he said during a telephone interview. "It's been more difficult to explain to my German colleagues what happened later."

http://www.iht.com/articles/

2006/04/13/news/overseas.php

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